Live Voyage Preview: Transatlantic aboard Cunard’s QM2

This year, one of our most adventurous Live Voyage Reports kicked off in a big way with a stunning eastbound transatlantic crossing aboard Silversea’s Silver Spirit. Sailing from Bridgetown, Barbados, we journeyed across the southern Atlantic ocean, bound for Porto Novo, Las Palmas, Casablanca, Portimao and, finally, Lisbon, Portugal. It was my first-ever transatlantic experience, and one that left me absolutely mesmerised.

This October, I’ll have the opportunity to cross the ocean again, tackling the rugged North Atlantic with a Live Voyage Report filed aboard the ship best suited for an early winter crossing: Cunard’s spectacular Queen Mary 2.

Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 is the only ship to offer regular transatlantic crossings throughout the year. Photo courtesy of Cunard Line.

Departing from Brooklyn, New York on Sunday, October 28^th, the Queen Mary 2 will head for the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and out into the open Atlantic Ocean, where she will chart a course for Southampton, England.

The key highlight of this itinerary is exactly what it lacks: ports of call. Instead, seven glorious days will be spent sailing the Atlantic Ocean, allowing for ample time to experience and report on the very things that make this massive ocean liner a worthy cruise experience in itself.

Everything about the Queen Mary 2, or QM2 as she is affectionately known, is superlative: at 1, 132 feet in length and with a beam of 131 feet, she is slightly smaller than Oasis of the Seas – but not by much.  QM2 is a proper ocean liner, and remains the largest ocean liner in the world.  In fact, she’s so massive that her deck plan takes up four full pages in Cunard’s 2012 brochure, and new deckplans released for 2013 actually divide the ship into forward, midship, and aft sections, along with “high and low” deck location designators.

Situated all the way forward, the Commodore Club is just one of several inviting bars and lounges aboard Queen Mary 2. Photo courtesy of Cunard Line.

She has four (four!) stair tower and elevator banks for passengers to use, along with 13 decks.  Her hull superstructure is also substantially higher than most cruise ships, allowing her to cross the Atlantic in all weather conditions.  Designer Stephen Payne also sought and received approval to place QM2’s lifeboats higher than normal regulations, at 88 feet above the water line rather than the more-standard height of 49 feet.

One reason I’m hoping for a few foggy days on my crossing: the chance to hear Queen Mary 2’s whistles, which are audible for an astonishing 10 miles.

All staterooms aboard QM2 recieved an updated look and new soft furnishings during a recent refit. Photo courtesy of Cunard Line.

Some notable features include a proper British pub, four swimming pools (five, if you count the Hydrotherapy pool in Queen Mary 2’s two-story Canyon Ranch Spa), a specialty restaurant designed and inspired by chef Todd English, the largest ballroom at sea, the magnificent 2-story Britannia Dining Room, a theatre, and even a full-blown planetarium at sea!

With those amenities and more, it might take a full crossing just to experience even half of them – but I am up to the challenge!  Our full itinerary, both here and onboard:

So come sail with us as we cross the Atlantic aboard the Queen Mary 2, and discover how travel used to exist before the dawn of the jet age!  Because, as the line itself used to say, getting there is half the fun!

To get a better scope of the magnitude of Queen Mary 2 – and to see some of her recent refurbishments – have a peek at the following video found on the Cunard Blog:

Our Live Voyage Report from onboard Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 begins Saturday, October 27^th!  In the meantime, pop on over to the Cunard website to find out more about this one-of-a-kind ship.